Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Missouri State
Missouri State sweeps Volleyball
10/14/2011 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 14, 2011
By Bill Ford
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois volleyball team struggled offensively in a three-set loss to Missouri State Friday night at Davies Gym.
The Salukis (9-8, 3-5 Missouri Valley Conference) hit for a .108 percentage and tallied 13 fewer kills than the Bears (14-5, 7-1 MVC) in the 25-16, 25-21, 25-19 sweep.
"I felt we could have played a lot better offensively," said SIU head coach Brenda Winkeler. "We just didn't pass the ball. If we had better passing, it would have been a really good match."
Every time the Southern seemed to have a strong run going, the Salukis were undone by errors. Southern led 8-5 early in the second set, but let the Bears back in it with four consecutive attacking errors.
SIU battled back in front, using a 5-0 run thanks to some Bears errors late in the set. The Salukis led as late as 20-18 before three more attacking errors helped MSU take back the lead, closing the set on a 7-1 run.
"We had early leads, then we'd pass the ball straight up in the air, which limits us offensively," Winkeler said.
With its offense struggling, the Saluki defense stepped up, finishing with nine team blocks compared with the Bears' five.
"Our serving picked up," Winkeler said. "We started putting some balls in positions where we made them go to certain hitters, so we could block a little better."
Winkeler said her team could have done a better job of getting the ball to junior middle blocker Alysia Mayes, who finished with seven kills.
"We had 76 times that we got served the ball and we only got 11 balls to Alysia, who hit .455," Mayes said. "We just need to get more balls to her."
Southern's outside hitters struggled on the night, due largely to the team's passing issues. Sophomore Jessica Whitehead led all players with 11 kills, but hit for a .065 clip.
"Both Laura Thole and Jess were forced to get a lot of bad balls," Winkeler said. "It was a lot of balls where, when the block is big you don't have many options. That leads people to struggle offensively."
Junior setter Rachael Brown finished with a double-double of 29 assists and 10 digs while Bailey Yeager chipped in 11 digs and three players finished with 12 blocks.
The Salukis will be back in action at 7 p.m. Saturday against Wichita State at Davies.
